TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
1-on-1 Conversation Tool
The 1-On-1 Meeting is the simplest and most effective way to invest time in your direct reports, and will pay dividends in almost every area of your business. Use these templates as guides before and during your regular 1-on-1 conversations with your direct reports . During the conversations, focus on two-way input and active listening.
The GROW Model for Coaching
The GROW Model for Coaching, created by Sir John Whitmore et al (1996) is the most popular coaching tool in use today. GROW is an acronym for Goal, Reality, Options and Will, and the model is centred on asking great questions that will help get the coachee from where they are now to where they want to be. Use these questions as a guide - start at Goal and make your way through to Will, but you may jump around and you don't need to ask all of the questions. Focus not on the details of the problem, but on the coaching and the coachee to solve the problems on their own. After a while you can just ask your own questions and use the GROW model as a guide.
Tough Conversations
A Tough Conversation is one you may be wary or reluctant to have because you know it could involve some uncomfortable emotions. It is the conversation you know you should have, but you shy away from hoping it will 'come right'. If left unsaid, it could impact negatively on the person concerned, your wider team, you as a manager, and ultimately, the organisation as a whole. To guide tough conversations, first use the 'preparation page' to get you thinking in the right frame of mind, and then the 'discussion template' to help you work through the conversation.
Prioritisation Quadrant
With the highly complex demands being placed on managers, it is imperative that you prioritise your tasks. This Prioritisation Quadrant has been adapted from Stephen Covey's Prioritisation Matrix, and it is a really useful and applicable tool for planning your time each week.
Skill/Will Matrix
Good coaching is determined by both the skill of the coach and the will of the coachee. We tend to focus more on skill than will, but identifying the will of staff is equally, or even more, important. The Skill/Will Matrix, introduced by Max Landsberg (1996), is a wonderful complement to the GROW model. Designed to help managers apply a coaching style with their direct reports, it provides a strong framework for asking people the right types of questions.
SBI/AA Feedback Technique
There are times when, rather than coaching, clear feedback is required. Poorly delivered feedback targeted at pointing out faults rather than improving performance has no place, and the sandwich technique (positive, corrective, positive) misses the mark. Fortunately, the SBI/AA Feedback Technique, created by the Center for Creative Leadership, is much more useful.